monkey1985

I just wanted to share an article I have saved on my phone that helps me when I’m worrying about my symptoms (24/7 facial tingling). I’ve been told it’s caused by chronic stress but as we all know it’s so hard to accept. https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/problemsanddisorders/medicallyunexplainedsymptoms.aspx?theme=mobile this article always helps me. I hope it helps you too.

Hi kindra. I have resigned to it being a chronic stress response because it’s the only thing that “fits”. I’ve been checked out by a neuro for ms etc last year- clear mri, tests and bloods. Was advised stress could be the cause (he only investigated ms because I was freaking out!). Have been checked by a chiropractor and an osteopath, both completely clueless as to why it was happening. The chiro continually advised how stressed I was and how tense my muscles were on the same side as the facial tingling. Lots of gps agree it’s stress (although not the typical response but defo possible). Also saw a maxfacs dr who didn’t know what wrong and told me to stop stressing! My TN worries are what bug me most but if I look at that logically it doesn’t fit either. But STRESS does and right now I have to constantly remind myself of that. I’ve literally had to write down a list of why this is more than likely stress and anxiety to check back over when I feel wobbly. Anxious personality/anxious since I was a kid/physical anxiety symptoms since I was a kid/a stressful childhood due to parents/ bullied as a teen/battling infertility for almost 10 years/a string of stressful events during my 20s/face began tingling after my most stressful year to date (began ivf and had 2 failed embryo transfers followed by a big bout of depression). It’s been 18 months and like you it’s the continual 24/7 nature of the tingling that freaked me out and still continues to cause me distress and worry. But again, if stress and anxiety were the catalyst then all of that is more fuel on the fire. I did a timeline a few months ago to just try n work out how the tingling has increased in intensity or eased slightly (it’s never gone) and a very evident pattern emerged that whenever stress has increased for whatever reason, the tingling and twitching followed suit. Quite telling really. Have you tried this? Do you identify with being a stressy anxious person like me? Were you either under a lot of stress when it started or was it after a stressful period of time? Sometimes the symptoms hit after the initial stressor has passed but stay fuelled by our reaction to them. Not to mention if our external stressors continue (I’m still dealing with fertility treatments which are a nightmare!). Have you joined anxietycentre.com? It’s worth 6 dollars to access all the info and understand why our bodies react physically to stress and they go into detail about every symptom out there. It’s been a huge help for me. Also reading about psychosomatic responses to stress has helped me too. I totally feel for you tho- it’s sounds so easy to say oh it’s just stress but constant facial tingling is beyond distracting and upsetting and it’s hard to distract yourself. Here if u wanna chat!

Hi everyone. Thought I’d check back in and say hello n do a bit of an update. So it’s been almost 18 months of facial tingling now. Any one else experienced a particular , constant symptom for this long? I’m no longer seeing a chiropractor as it wasn’t helping and instead I’m doing all I can to tackle my stress and anxiety as I’m 99% sure it is the root cause of these odd sensations. I’ve had body wide twitching which gets worse with the ebbs and flows of stress as well as brain fog. Right now those two are quite mild but the facial tingling and burning is still 24/7 but changes throughout the day in intensity. I’m now seeing a therapist, eating healthy, practicing mindfulness and meditation and trying to introduce regular moderate exercise. I became a member of the anxietycentre.com which is very helpful and has explained so much about how chronic stress and anxiety could do this to me. i no longer worry about ms or TN for the most part. My main worry now really is that it won’t ever go away. That I won’t ever be able to get over my stress and anxiety enough for it to stop... I’m still dealing with infertility issues and treatments. I’m due to have an operation in the next few months and have 3 embryos left to try after that. If they don’t work then I think my journey will be over. I’d have to walk away from trying to have a family all together because I don’t think I could mentally or physically take much more. I know this is one of my core fears and sources of stress but it’s not something I can just drop at this stage. It makes me worry about how counter productive it is in the light of my trying to recover from chronic stress and anxiety. I can only hope all my work is keeping the beast at bay!

Just chipping in as I can relate to this. I struggle with neck pain and tingling in my face and have been back and forth doctors the last few months trying to work out whats going on. Currently we all think its down to stress and anxiety. I know when people say "Oh its just anxiety" its kind of insulting when you're experiencing very real physical symptoms, but its good to realise that anxiety causes our body to react in lots of physical ways than then lead to those symptoms. It could well be, if youre already stressed and anxious about your health or in general, your body is reacting to that with tension throughout your muscles (neck, shoulders, jaw etc). This tension can put pressure on nerves, trigger points through your muscles that refer pain over your head. I know the muscles in the back of your neck do this. They refer headaches to the eyes and forehead if they are tense and knotted up. I know this because its something have! the big thick muscle in the from of your neck (SCM) and your jaw muscles can create tinnitus when they are tight too. I know its the hardest thing in the world but try and take a step back and consider that your anxiety may be causing this. By all means see a doctor but try hard not to freak out.

Hi guys. Im currently trying to take practical steps towards curbing my health anxiety. As it is for most of us here, dreaded DR google has all too strong a pull on me and I always seem to relapse into falling down the internet black hole, googling my symptoms and convincing myself I have this that and the other. I have managed periods (anything from a few days to a few weeks) where I have stayed away, but if my symptoms flare or my treatments seem to not help, I begin to worry again whats wrong with me and I get sucked back in to the googling downward spiral. I have tingling in my face constantly and apart from the theory of muscle tension from anxiety impinging on my nerves, I think my brain longs for a concrete diagnosis rather than a theory, even though I fear massively if its anything else!! its so messed up! My question is, what do you do to stay away from googling your symptoms? Is it even possible?? I feel so weak when I do it. It really is an addiction. Any advice appreciated!

Hi Everyone I have been struggling for the last 7 months with constant tingling/twitching/numbness on the left side of my face. I won't go through all the details here but I've had the all clear from Neurologists and am now seeing a Chiropractor as the only possible conclusion at this stage is that its caused by chronic muscle tension in my neck/shoulder/jaw area which is pinching the nerve. (its a daily battle to hold on to this belief and not worry its something worse!). I have been reading a lot about chronic muscle tension and its physical effects. I have a history with stress and anxiety and in the past 8 years have been dealing with fertility treatments and all the emotional baggage that comes with that. I often think Ive coped really well but after reading a lot about muscle tension caused by stress etc... I feel like my coping mechanisms may well have been storing all that emotional pain, stress and worry in my muscles and this facial thing is the tipping point for my body. The logical part of my brain screams yes to all of this- it makes so much sense. But when the tingling has been so constant and long lived, (and worse lately) its hard to focus on that theory and how I can fix it. I just want to start to feel better even it takes a good while to get sorted. If I could just feel some improvement, it would help me so much. I feel like I'm stuck in an infinite loop of: Emotional baggage/stress from life and Infertility in particular ---> chronic muscle tension/surpressed emotion in order to cope ---> Painful neck and shoulder----> CONSTANT tingling in face----> fear over why its tingling----> guilt over how the fear dominates me and makes it hard to do normal stuff (work is hard- I work for myself) ----> continued background IVF stuff ---> worry that my face requires medication to control----> fear and guilt that that medication will put an end to IVF treatment as I cant take it while trying to conceive----> and back round again!! So if muscle tension caused by all this stress is hopefully at the root of this, then I NEED to find a way to get my muscles out of their hypertonic state. This is more than "Take a nice hot bath". How do I deal with this? Practically and emotionally? Life is life, I cant remove infertility as a thing from my life experience. It is what it is and the only hope of having children is to keep going, see this through and even if it doesn't work, I know I can adopt. either way, its a battle that I have to endure. I cant avoid this. So how do I contend with life without sustaining and worsening my muscle tension? Im at a loss. Any ideas guys?

Only just reading this! thanks for your reply newday. Well I've been on amitryptiline for almost 3 months now. It definitely helps me sleep, and has lessened my morning anxiety. Hasn't done a thing for my face though. Im ok ish at the mo. My latest HA obession is reading about atypical trigeminal neuralgia. Classic TN is horrifically painful so I know I don't have that, but ATN is a lesser constant burning and tingling. The more I read about it, the more the logical part of me disagrees with it, but the anxious part fears I'm in the early stages of ATN. My tingling is constant and it burns (like a cold burning). Again, I'm fearing the worst. I am still seeing my chiropractor who is just amazing and trying his best to help. He did a reassessment this week as the burning along my jaw has ramped up. He really feels now that there is nerve impingement in my neck between C1 and C2 so has altered my treatment plan to target that. Really hoping it works. Trying so hard to believe him but again that irrational part of me keeps thinking what if this is early onset ATN?? What if its going to become increasingly painful and I have to take more powerful drugs that I will rely on??? Im still on a break from IVF and I'm so desperate to get well so I can go back to trying with our frozen embryos. If I get diagnosed with something like ATN then the IVF show will be well and truly over. I cant get pregnant while on ATN meds. They are super harmful to babies.

Thanks- I have seen a few doctors and have had various tests (MRIs and bloodwork) and everything came back clear. My neurologist said that nerves do funny things sometimes and hopefully it will go away at some point (nice to know I didn't have MS like I thought, but saying that isn't exactly helpful). My GP thinks its pure anxiety and depression and my Chiropractor thinks its nerve compression made worse by stress. So hard to know who is right.

Mark G - thanks again for replying. I know I am stuck in some sort of infinite loop with this and my anxiety about my anxiety is just pouring fuel on the fire as it were. I *think* that the tingling and twitching is more of a knock on from something like jaw tension thanks to anxiety, I just wish I knew that for sure and I wish it would just let up sometimes. When its 24/7 it just makes you worry its something else and I cant ignore it (especially being in my face). Im on Amitriptyline at the moment and its helping me sleep better so far and I was experiencing mild tingling on the other side of my face (about 10% of whats going on the left) and that seems to have subsided. My left shoulder was also very tense and my chiropractor said last week that for the first time in 3 months my shoulders were level rather than the left being raised up. So it is helping, it just feels like my tingling and twitching on the left is the final frontier. I feel very low knowing that taking this break to try and get better is holding me back from continuing my IVF treatments. I feel like a massive failure. Just wish I could pull myself together.

Im having a hard time accepting a particular symptom I have is caused by anxiety. I know I have anxiety and have struggled with it for years but earlier this year I developed a twitching sensation in my lip and cheek along with constant tingling. This has been going on 24/7 for 6 months and I really mean that. Its not a sensation that comes and goes with heightened anxiety or whatever, Its literally there all. the. time. (you can read more about everything I've been going through here: ) I had MRIs and all the other tests to rule out anything nasty and its all come back clear. Everyone is concluding it must be stress. I just cant shake the fact that generally tingling is something people experience intermittently with anxiety. not CONSTANTLY. Has anyone else experienced this? or has any one else had a particular physical manifestation of their anxiety that has been that constant? need reassurance. Im trying to "loosen and accept" but in the back of mind I cant accept this particular symptom really is just stress/anxiety because its constant. help!

Mark G - Thank you so much for your reply. There is so much fantastic advice there and you've explained things so well. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me. Im going to print it out and really think over it and let it sink in. Really hope I can apply all you've said. I so want to get better. Im so fed up of living this way.

philb thank you- Ive never heard of Claire Weekes. Currently listening to hope and help for your nerves. Its great!

Mark- I took a look around the site and found lots of helpful posts. I read a comment by yourself somewhere about acceptance being key to overcoming anxiety. How do I accept a) my anxiety and b) that my constant facial tingling etc IS just anxiety? Ive said for a long time that I have a weakness or tendency for being anxious/struggling with anxiety but I feel like in the last few days I've really had to face up to that fact that I HAVE anxiety...and thats hard. I don't want to label myself but if I look back at my life, to various events and even to how I think about things and react to things on a daily basis, its glaringly obvious. Its just hard to accept and even harder to accept that my facial symptoms are just my anxiety physically manifested. I want to accept it though because I feel like the key to getting better lies within that acceptance. Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your reply mark. Its made me feel quite teary just to know that it does resonate with others. Anxiety can feel like a really lonely place when those that are immediately around you (i.e- friends and family) don't understand what your going though.

Hi everyone Im new here. Just looking for support really. Its been a crazy few months and Ill try my best to keep it short and sweet. Im wondering mainly if anyone has experienced facial tingling etc as a long term symptom of their anxiety? mine has been going on for 6 months... firstly, I've always been quite an anxious person. there were a few events in my 20's (I'm now 32) that I feel really solidified my issues. So anxiety is something Ive struggled with for a while. Basically, in march this year, after a few months of a persistent left eye twitch, my left lip/cheek started tingling and twitching (very fine twitches, not always visable). I also had some burning neck pain for a week or so. My face felt weirdly numb/but not numb if that makes sense and I took to google. Big mistake! I freaked out thinking I was either having a stroke or had MS. Fast forward a few weeks, I had been to the GP and told it was nothing, ended up in A&E after having panic attacks. Began experiencing tingling and numbness in my arms and legs etc. Was again told, it was nothing but I was in such a state my GP referred me to a neurologist for reassurance. To be safe, he ordered an MRI which was fine. My bloods were also fine. So once again, I was told its nothing (probably stress if anything) and hopefully it would go. After my clear MRI I was elated, and a lot of the MEGA anxiety I had been experiencing lifted. The facial symptoms remained however (and when I say remain- I mean have been there all day every day since march in varying degrees). I saw a chiropractor because I was wondering if my issues were to do with posture. He assessed me and agreed that was possible (I have bad posture from years of working at a desk). He also noted some TMJ issues which he chalked up to stress. He has done a lot of work which has massively helped my posture/neck pain/lower back pain but my face remains the same. In amongst all of this, I have been dealing with infertility issues. My husband and I have been trying to have a baby for over 8 years. We have been doing IVF treatments unsuccessfully for the past 18 months or so. We had to take a break early this year during all of my tests like the MRI etc. We finally returned to clinic for another attempt in June which was also unsuccessful. Since then, my anxiety has gotten a bit worse. As I say my facial symptoms have been constant. I began to worry that my anxiety, though not at fever pitch like they were in march/april, was not helping our IVF attempts. I felt I couldn't continue with treatment while this was still on going. So two weeks ago, after seeing my IVF dr, my GP and the Chiropractor, everyone agreed that dealing with the two issues was simply too much at once so a break was absolutely necessary. My GP has prescribed me Amitriptyline to help with my anxiety and the facial sensations. She really believes ALL of this is because of my prolonged anxiety issues. She also thinks I'm depressed. During my appointment she kept saying, "You have to understand that 8 years of struggling with infertility will have taken its toll on your body and mind"... So currently, I'm on a break from IVF I'm taking my meds and waiting to see if they help. Its been so hard to accept. Ive felt like Ive coped all this time, but I guess I haven't been and its tipped over the edge and effected me physically. I just feel so defeated. Has anyone out there experienced similar symptoms/reactions to their anxiety/depression? Some days I feel comforted to think that the sensations are just my anxiety, but other days I find it hard to believe that my anxiety can cause these issues 24/7 for 6 months, because I don't always "Feel" anxious. Does that make sense? hope someone can relate.